You can lead a kid to mealtime but you can’t make her eat

So. Here’s the thing. Food issues with a toddler suck. Mealtimes and nutrition are most definitely, without a doubt, our biggest struggle with Evalyn right now. Apparently, thanks to the wonderful world of twitter, I know that I’m not alone in this.

I guess it’s normal for kids to love something one day and then shudder and shake and spit it out as if it’s poison the next. I guess it’s normal for kids to eat nothing but 1/2 a banana in a day. I guess it’s normal for kids to throw their food on the floor, push your hands away when trying to feed them, and say “All done, thank you” after two bites.

But guess what? Even if it’s “normal”? It sucks. It’s frustrating. It’s stressful. And it’s annoying.

As Moms, our children’s nutrition is always at the forefront of our radar. They are dependant on us for their nutrition. It is up to us to ensure that we set them up with the foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating. No pressure, right?

So, since a lot of talk about toddler eating habits (or lack of eating habits, rather) has been floating around blog land, I thought it may be helpful to toss some ideas out to each other. What do your toddlers love? Hate? Creative ideas? It seems pretty common that lunch is the most difficult meal for moms to be creative with, so maybe you have some great ideas. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to help mealtime be a happy time instead of a “please get me a strong drink NOW” time? I admit, I do things I said I’d never do. I bribe. How many times I tell her she can have a bite of a chip if she eats another bite of supper is almost shameful. And yes, on average, we watch a cartoon with our meal at least once a day, just to keep her distracted enough to shovel some food in her mouth. Heck, today? I actually encouraged her to toss bits of her food to Nika, who was casually chillin’ at the foot of her high chair, because she thought it was fun to eat together. Mom fail, FTW!

There are so many things she won’t touch that she used to love. Carrots? Nuhuh. Unless they are in soup. I even tried making the most delicious carrots with apples, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. She refused. Except if they were dipped in French onion sour cream dip. Um, sick? Beets, squash, avocado (except if it’s guacamole on a chip) are other things she used to love but won’t touch now. Lately, she won’t eat meat. From about 9-12 months, she was a carnivore. Now we’re lucky if she eats one bite of meat a day. I can sometimes trick her into a bit of meat on a sandwich or wrap but usually she figures it out and spits it out. She used to gobble up meat like it was her job. No longer.

Because I know that I am always stumped for new ideas, I’ve tried to list a few of our go to meals and snacks in hopes that they may spark some inspiration for you. I like to limit the amount of processed food we eat, although I’m not saying my child has never had a french fry or chicken nugget. For the most part, though, I like to see her eating fresh and mostly homemade foods. Of course, as you’re reading this list, remember that sometimes she loves them, sometimes she hates them. Sometimes she eats 3 eggs, sometimes eggs are disgusting. Every single thing on this list has, at some point, been tossed on the floor. But for the most part, they are quick, easy and mostly healthy suggestions, that we have at least had some luck with in the past.

Breakfast

- yogurt, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, pancakes (make a huge batch and stock them in the freezer for a quick morning), toast with butter and/or peanut butter, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, dry cheerios/other cereal, french toast or waffle sticks, muffins.

Lunch

- cottage cheese mixed with chopped spinach (this is our #1 go to and makes an appearance in our home multiple times per week), cheesy scrambled eggs, soup/stew/chilli/other dinner leftovers, brown rice and beans, whole wheat tortilla roll ups with flavoured cream cheese, sliced ham, finely chopped tomatoes and cucumber, steamed veggies (most often peas, broccoli or green beans), quinoa with sauteed peppers, mushrooms, onions and (if I’m lucky), some meat, grilled cheese (although she’s learned the art of licking off the ketchup and chucking the sandwich), peanut butter sandwiches, hardboiled eggs (it’s so great to boil up a few at the beginning of the week so they are there and ready), chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, omelettes.

Dinner

We try to feed Evalyn what we’re eating. The types of meals she will eat are lasagne, spaghetti, soups, stews, chilli, pot pie and a few others. But often, I make a meal and she just won’t have it. Also, she usually starts to get hungry and fussy just a few minutes before we’re ready to eat. Because of this, most of the time I have quick and easy things on hand that I can toss on her tray. Some of her favourites are: black beans, chick peas, peas, steamed broccoli (which she normally loves and gobbles up but currently will only eat it if it has ‘dip’ or hummus), green beans, shredded cheese, fruit (always fruit), bread with butter, applesauce.

Daytime Snacks

- these muffins (with a variety of add ins), often with peanut butter, fruit (specifically: kiwi, berries, pears, clementines and bananas are her favourites), crackers, hummus on cucumber, pitas or crackers, cheese strings (although girlfriend is super iffy with cheese lately), applesauce, black beans, raisins (all.the.time. These never, ever, ever fail).

Bedtime Snacks

- cereal with milk, yogurt, fruit, muffins, English muffins, toast, apple sauce. Sometimes if she had a crappy dinner, we’ll even toss an egg in.

Now, I want to hear from you. What meals or snacks have you found that your toddler will gobble up? Any great feeding tricks? Is duct tape and cookies the only solution? (Kidding. Sort of). Help a mama out!

silent sunday: an apple a day

Reason #48282 why we love where we live: apple picking the backyard.

Tuesday Tidbits

You may have noticed that aside from Eva’s monthly update, I haven’t posted in over a week. No? You didn’t notice? Well, let’s pretend that you did so that I feel popular. Mkay? Anyhow… I just thought I’d stop in with a totally random post to let you know what I’ve been up to that has been keeping me away from blogland.

Last week, canning fest 2011 began when I spent the day with two of my girlfriends canning close to 40 pints of peaches. This was the same day that Eva decided that sitting on the door of the dishwasher and carrying a Coach purse on her shoulder were her favourite pastimes.

On the weekend, we zipped over to the states to pick up a parcel (yay, birthday party stuff) and do some shopping. I’m on the hunt for a new handbag and wallet for my birthday. Since I’m going back to work, I figured it was time. I haven’t really carried a purse other than a few hours here and there since Eva was born and I started toting my mom bag around. I found one that I loved at JC Penny but it was the first one I saw in the first store I looked so I figured I shouldn’t jump the gun. Then, Eva got tired and we decided we needed to hurry up and head back home, so we left. And I didn’t look in anymore stores. More on the purse fiasco in a bit.

On Sunday, my Mom was here when we got home from church. This was the first time that Eva, mom and I have had a chance to spend a few days together in nearly 6 months. It was well overdue. It was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote this post about spending time with my mom. Looking back, I remember those feelings so well. But now, spending time together is even more fun because I get to see how much Eva loves her Nana and vice versa. They acted crazy together and spent the last few days laughing non stop. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the fact that I got a little teary saying goodbye.

While Mom was here, we did a bunch of canning. Hot peppers, BBQ onion sauce, salsa and more peaches. We also left E and E at home and went shopping and out for Sushi. You know how when you’re window shopping with no money you always find a billion and seven things to buy but when you are shopping with a purpose (like, you know, to buy a new purse for your birthday) you CANNOT FIND ANYTHING? It was that kind of night. I looked in every.single.store that carries handbags but all I could think every time I picked one up? Not as good as that first one I saw in Penny’s. Rip snort. Why didn’t I buy it? I guess my love will just have to take me on another US shopping spree.

We were eating breakfast on Monday morning and I asked Eva if she wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Hot Dog song. She looked at me and clear as day, said, “Haa Dog”. My mom and I about died. And, of course, because we laughed, Eva thought it was the best thing ever. So she laughed. And said it again. And again. And again. And has basically been saying Hot Dog ever since. I must admit. I am less than proud that one of my daughter’s first words is hot dog. Ah well. Mickey Mouse wins.

That basically sums up what’s been going on around these parts. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, so I’ll be elbow deep in canning for the next few weeks, for sure. Grab your Tostitos and head on over because we’ll have salsa coming out our ears.

Oh yeah, one last thing. My baby walks now. A lot.

This and That…

A few random tidbits to end the week off…

Eva and I were lucky enough to spend the last few days with her Aunt Logi, my sister-in-law, while my brother is in India for business. We swam, played, walked, shopped and had an intense game of Mexican Train. What fun! Eva is definitely starting to know and remember people which I love. So much fun to see her recognizing her family members and other special people.

~

We finally got around to doing some baby proofing. I always said, Oh, I’ll do it soon. I’ll do it soon. And then, suddenly, here we are, and I should have “baby proofed” 3 months ago. But really, there’s not a lot that needed to be done. It was mostly just the kitchen cabinets. I always said I’d never lock them … I’d just teach her she can’t go in them. HA! Girlfriend was obsessed with getting into them and it was just getting ridiculous (and a little unsafe) for her to be constantly pulling things, like you know, the food processor, out. So, they are locked and this morning I waited anxiously for her to make this discovery and of course, she waited until well after morning nap to even really bother with them. And let me say, once she did figure out that she can’t get in them anymore, she was not such a happy camper. BUT once she realized she couldn’t get at them, she ended up sitting and playing with her TOYS (gasp!) for 30 minutes straight.

~

Mealtime has become somewhat horrible. Lately, when I put her in her chair with her meal, she starts devouring whatever is in front of her for about 3-5 minutes and then suddenly, it’s like a switch is flipped and she starts freaking. Not just whining and complaining. It’s more like, raging, someone is ripping my limbs off type screaming. As far as I can tell, it’s not that she doesn’t like the food, because she eats it and mmms and smacks her lips at first and it’s not that she’s full, because she sometimes calms down and just keeps eating and if she doesn’t, when she gets down and finished ScreamFest 2011, she smacks her lips and signs for food again. She rarely lets me spoon feed her – except yogurt and fruit in the morning as long as there is some pancake, toast or cracker on her tray that she can eat with her hands while I sneak the spoon in between her bites. But at lunch or dinner? Very little spoon feeding happening.

So what’s the deal? Is she bored? Does she want something different to eat? Does she just want to be a brat? Any advice?

~

We have chickens in the coop again. Evalyn loves them. She will stand outside the coop and watch them and squeal forever. And, much to my dismay, she even wants to go inside the coop with them (um, hello, gross. There’s POOP in there kid). I keep telling her she should want to go shopping and get her nails done and do girly things but I’m afraid Evan might get his way and have a little tomboy. Sidenote: The rage-filled limbs being ripped off screams often happen when we peel her away from her chickens, too.

~

I’ve officially begun thinking about first birthday stuff. How is it even possible that this is on my mind? Less than 2 months and we’ll be celebrating her first year! I’ve already made a few small first birthday party purchases and have a ton of ideas floating around in my head. Eek. Exciting.

~

Evan was in a car accident the Saturday before we left for Ottawa. No one was hurt but his truck needed to have some repairs. So, it was in the shop all week until last night. On Wednesday, my car started making a bizarre rattling noise that Evan was unsure of, so as of today, my car is in the shop. Aren’t car troubles just the best?

~

Happy Friday, friends! Love you all.

What Do You Do When You Are Due

What do you do when you get to Friday September 17th, your due date and you have not had a baby yet?

Well, it's obvious, you fill your weekend right up!

First, you go out for dinner to the local pub with your baby's Aunties where you order the nightly special in hopes that the chef will have placed some special ingredient in it that will induce labor.

When that doesn't work, you go hang out with your BFF for the evening, eat a DQ blizzard, and watch a funny movie.

Then the next morning when your Dude goes into work for a few hours, you putter around the house, doing some cleaning, making some phone calls and tidying up. Then you go for a walk with your dog and come back to have a rest.

When your Dude gets home, the two of you get busy. (Ahem, not in that way, sickos). You begin the process of canning the bazillion pears that were so generously given to you by your Dude's co-worker's father.

You can 7 litres and 12 pints of pears and still have half of them left to eat and bake with.

Then you make yourself presentable while your Dude so kindly offers to clean up the kitchen after the pear canning expedition. You spend a few hours with your friends and then decide that since the Friday night special at the local pub did not do the trick the night before, you might as well head there again and try something else.

You head back to the local pub with some of your favorite people in the world (where you may be served by the same waitress) for the second night in a row. Decide to stick to your old faithful - fish and chips - in hopes that the familiarity will encourage baby.

After dinner, you head back to your house and allow yourself to be pampered by two of the world's greatest girlfriends as they offer to rub your back and feet for two hours straight. (Yes, I've got good friends).

You try to discourage them from taking a picture of the event, knowing that it will come back to haunt you in the future when they are pregnant and say "remember that time I rubbed your feet for two hours the day after your due date...."

Crawl in bed and fall asleep wondering if "tonight is the night".

On Sunday morning, you can wake up to get ready for church and contemplate wearing a fake mustache, dark sunglasses and top hat as a disguise so people won't know it's you ... still pregnant.

You decide against wearing a disguise.

Head to church and worship with your church family, while also politely navigating all of the "are you ever going to have your baby questions?"

Come home, eat lunch and hit the sack.

Then you sleep away the afternoon while your Dude heads to work again for a few more hours. Realize that you must have really needed some rest because you didn't even wake up when your friends stopped by and came into the house to drop some things off.

When you wake up, you can do the dishes, bake some bread, and get ready to head to the grocery store.

When your Dude gets home from work, you can drag him to the grocery store with you, pick up something for dinner, and then head home to veg for the evening.

Have a bath and call it an early night.

Tuck yourself into bed, again wondering, "is tonight the night".

As you fall asleep, you hve a chat with your little Skeezix about "the plan".

Then, you wake up on Monday morning, feeling refreshed and confident that you will (hopefully) have a baby this week!

That is what you do when you are due.

Freezer Cooking

You might remember that one of the tasks on my "pre-baby nesting projects" list was to stock my freezer with some pre-made food for once the baby is born.

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying to chip away at this and on Saturday, my SIL, Logi, and I tackled this task big.time.

While we were in University, we usually had one big freezer cooking day at the beginning of each semester so that we would have meals to fall back on during the busy times. Now that I'm expecting a baby in September and she's going back to her job at the most chaotic time of year in September, we decided it would be great to keep up the tradition.

We had planned, wrote lists, and done our shopping previously in the week so when we woke up Saturday morning we were ready to get to work.

The kitchen got messy and our feet got tired but over the course of the day, we made 4 lasagnas, 5 pizza casseroles (recipe coming soon), a large pot of chili, 8 mini meatloaves (recipe coming), and 99 meatballs (recipe coming) to split between the two of us.

After adding this to the bits and pieces that I've done over the past few weeks, my freezer is now stocked full of meals that are mostly portioned to feed the two of us, but some are bigger in case we have company.

Here's the list:
5 beans and rice
6 lentil-rice soup
2 dozen twice baked potatoes
2 dozen breakfast burritos (well, at least there were two dozen - I know the Dude has already managed to make his way into these before work in the mornings ... maybe they won't even last until baby arrives)
6 Mexi-chicken
18 Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
BBQ Venison
2 dozen Cheesy Zucchini Muffins
2 Lasagnas
3 Pizza Casseroles
4 Mini Meatloaves
49 Meatballs
2 Chili

Plus a few things I've picked up on sale:
6 packages of bagels
3 packages English muffins
10 tortillas

I'm hoping to do another few dozen muffins and some loaves of bread for toast and the Dude's sandwiches when the time gets closer but for now, I think we're all set!

What are some of your favorite freezer recipes?

Weekend Recap

This weekend, our friend's ventured up from Ohio to spend their July 4th long weekend in the Great White North. That is not so great and white right now - more like the Hot Humid North. When they arrived on Friday night, they arrived in style.

Yes, that's right, my sweet Rachel came bearing gifts of Chick-Fil-A for her Chick-Fil-A-less friend. Sure, the reheated nuggets aren't quite the same after a long trip in the car, but they sure were better than nothing!

On Saturday, it was a hot, hot day. We just took it easy and chilled out for most of the day.

In the afternoon, it was time to get the party started with the 2nd Annual Steeler Fest BBQ! A bunch of our good friend's headed to our place for dinner and a campfire. Of course there was some horseshoes and baseball thrown in there as well. We had a ton of delicious food thanks to the FD's exceptional grilling skills.


Here we are all chowing down. See that chubby one stuffing her face on the end of the row? Yup, that's me.


Our friends, B&D brought the newest member of the clan with them. Meet Sadie.

We finished the night off around the campfire.

There were chocolate brownie sundaes with homemade ice cream and homemade cherry sauce.

And of course, there had to be some night vision horseshoes - it just wouldn't be the same without it.

On Sunday we headed to church, came home and had lunch and then spent the afternoon by the pool. Having an Aunt and Uncle with a pool is really quite great, have I mentioned that before?

She makes me look so skinny doesn't she?

After our swim, we came home and the boys made dinner while Rachel and I rested on the couch. Then we spent the evening falling asleep watching Edge of Darkness and called it a night. Glen and Rachel headed out early the next morning just after E work and then I headed to the US and A to do some shopping with the BFF for the day. When we got home, we made some dinner, chilled out for a few hours and then headed to see Eclipse. Four late nights in a row and this little lady is tiredddddddddd.

So ends another great weekend!

Before Baby Nesting Projects

First things first, I must mention that today is a SPECIAL day. Today, my mumma turns 50!!! Everyone give a great big shout out and a Happy Birthday to the Old Girl! Love you Mumma.

Now that my thesis defense is all done and over with, I have the next 3 months or so to prepare for the arrival of the Bambino. I am going to be working a little bit but I will have quite a lot of downtime. I am hoping to maximize the time off, avoid boredom and keep myself organized and actually doing something, so I have prepared a fairly lengthy list of tasks that I hope to accomplish in our home before the big event. Most of these relate to transforming our space to accommodate the baby. I am planning on keep track of this list on my sidebar so I can cross off each job as it gets finished. I'm sure many of the tasks will be blogged about. Some of the jobs are just for me to do, some are just for the FD, and some will be a joint effort. I'm committed to getting a lot done over the next three months so that when the baby comes I won't feel like there are tons of jobs left unfinished that may never get done.

• Empty and clean/reorganize all drawers in kitchen
• Organize laundry room: including pulling out everything and replacing the floor, clearing off and organizing shelves, re-purposing plastic storage drawers
  
• Transform 2nd room from spare bedroom/office to baby's room - definitely the biggest job!
  
• Replace flooring in baby's room
• Purge and condense scrapbooking supplies
• Empty desk and sort through what needs to be kept and what needs to go
  
• Find a new home for filing cabinet
• Organize books on bookshelf into books to keep out, books to pack away, books to give away
• Possibly find new home for bookshelf
• Organize top shelf of both of our closets
• Clean out and organize junk drawer in FD's dresser, and drawers of our bedside tables
• Go on a short and sweet "babymoon" together - already done! Maybe we'll get to sneak in another one.
  
• Transform shelves in armoire to a "closet" for baby's room
• Build baby's change table
• Stock freezer with pre-made meals so we can survive the first few weeks postpartum without starving to death
  
• Make a baby wrap using Jen's instructions
  
• Get armoire and change table painted (we were going to do this ourselves but we got the hook ups for some free professional painting)
  
• Pick strawberries and blueberries (freeze and preserve some)
  
• Do some canning: bbq onions, salsa, jam, diced tomatoes, pickled beets, dill pickles, red pepper relish

What do you think? Can we get it all done?

Ready ... set ... GO!

The things you non-Canadians are missing out on...

Over the past few months, as I've developed close relationships with a number of my blog friends, many of whom are American, I have begun to discover some amazing, amazing, amazing things that somehow seem to be contained within the borders of the great white north. You will probably not be surprised to learn that all of these things are edible and unhealthy. All of these edibles are treats that I have grown up on, many of which I took for granted, until very recently as I have discovered that they may not be familiar to the whole wide world.

So, here I am, doing my part in the world, introducing my American friends to a variety of treats that you may very likely have never heard of. If you ever find yourself venturing into Canada, please be sure to seek out these yummies.

First up, the oh-so-wonderful Poutine. My jaw literally dropped when I discovered that most/all of my American friends have never tried, let alone, heard of Poutine. A Poutine is a Quebecois delicacy that has spread it's goodness across our great nation. It consists of a plate of french fries, piled high with cheese curds and smothered in brown gravy. It seriously brings sadness to my heart to know that many of you have never indulged in a Poutine.

(source)

Next on our list, we have the butter tart. What is there to even be said about the butter tart, except that it may be our best kept secret? It is similar to what you Americans may know as "pecan pie", yet it appears in tart form and often without the distraction of pecans, allowing the indulger to focus their attention entirely on the sugary syrupy filling. Sometimes, butter tarts include nuts and/or raisins, but, in my opinion, are best left as is.

(source)

Following the butter tart, I introduce you to the Dill Pickle Chip. There is not much to say about this one, except that they are potato chips flavoured like dill pickles and are absolutely delicious. They are my favourite!

(source)

We certainly cannot forget the coffee crisp. I am getting more and more discouraged as this list goes on and as I realize how empty the lives of many of my friends must be, considering they have never had these treats. This chocolate bar consists of coffee cream, wafers and a milk chocolate coating. And is absolutely delicious. Just ask Shaina ... I very willingly introduced her to the beauty of coffee crisp.

(source)

Next up, the great Nanaimo Bar. Named for the city in British Columbia where it was invented for a county fair, the nanaimo bar is a no bake dessert that features a crumble, wafer type crust which often contains coconut, a layer of vanilla pudding or custard and a thick coating of chocolate across the top. Oftentimes, flavours such as mint or mocha are featured in the nanaimo bar.

(source)

This completes the list I had generated. But my dear frousin Caley, relayed a piece of disturbing information to me. IS IT TRUE THAT AMERICANS DO NOT HAVE SMARTIES?

(source)

If so, I must simply complete this post by asking ... what is wrong with your nation?

Menu Plan Monday

This year has started out with me not doing so well when it comes to sticking with my menu plans. It's time to change that!

Here's what I've been cooking up as of late:

Soft Pretzels

Herb Shrimp

Pesto Tomato Chicken Rotini

Blueberry Bran Muffins

And on the menu for this week....

Sunday
On the road

Monday
Sausage
Perogies
Broccoli
Carrots

Tuesday
Shrimp, spinach and feta crepes*

Wednesday
Breakfast for dinner at Caley's

Thursday
Chicken and Rice (x2 - one for us, one for a friend)
Broccoli
Bread machine rolls

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Meatloaf*
Mashed potatoes
Turnip
Peas

Breakfasts
Fruit smoothies (I am soo back on the fruit smoothie train!)
Blueberry Bran Muffins

Bread
Sunflower and Flax Bread

Snacks
Cheesy crackers
Granola Bars
Fruit
Yogurt

*recipes to come at Lucy's Kitchen

Head over here to see more great meal planning ideas.

Christmas Weekend Recap

I had full intentions of getting this post up yesterday, but that just didn't happen. I got all the pictures uploaded and then realized that I did not feel like writing anything. So, I didn't.


This past weekend, we celebrated Christmas with my hubby's family. The events were set to begin on Friday night but because of a snow storm in the FD's hometown, more than half of the family was unable to make it. So, we rearranged some of our plans for Saturday to include Friday night's scheduled activities. Then we went to the FD's aunts house, had pizza and wings and watched Home Alone (best Christmas movie, EVER) with the few family members who were able to make it.

Later that evening, Evan's oldest sister and her family arrived. I was so excited to finally meet Baby C after not being able to see him because of the flu in November.

He is so cute, I just love him to pieces!

On Saturday morning, the family who couldn't make it on Friday night, got up nice and early in order to arrive around 10 am. His immediate family and grandparents all came to our place to enjoy a brunch of breakfast casserole, fruit salad, muffins and yogurt.

Then we opened presents!

I got a sweet new slowcooker. It's a bit bigger than my old one and it has a stoneware insert that can be used on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the slow cooker! Hello One Pot Meals! I also got two really great stockpots so my salsa and other preserves won't be burnt next year.

After pressys, we headed Caley's church where we were holding the rest of the activities with the extended family. I believe there was something like 29 of us this year! We had some lunch, enjoyed visiting with each other, played games, took an updated family photo and then had our gift exchange. I may have mentioned before that for this year's name draw, we decided to do all homemade gifts. It turned out very well. There is some mad talent in this family. We had everything from baked goods, to preserves, to knitting, to quilting, to woodworking, to scrapbooking and jewelry making! All of the gifts were so thoughtful and well put together.

I drew the FD's aunt and made her a "Basket of Love from Lucy's Kitchen". Included was a jar of Love Soup, a jar of pickles, apple butter, beets, a hot chocolate mix inside a collage mug with pictures from her trip to Alaska, some Christmas-y tea towels and coupon book for one baked good each month for 2010.

The FD drew Caley's finance, Craig's, name and built him this sweet potato and onion bin. If I didn't already have one, I might have kept it for myself!

Evan's cousin R had his name and made him a super sweet scrapbook documenting some of their favourite memories from growing up. It is definitely something to be cherished. His uncle had my name and built me this amazingly awesome window frame! I know the picture sucks. I will take another one once I get it hung up.

After the gits were done, we got to work getting dinner ready. What a feast! Turkey, prime rib, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, corn, beets, pickles, rolls, salad and tortiere! I don't think I have to tell you that I was stuffed. Here are the lead chefs for the evening...

The FD cooked a delicious Prime Rib on the rotisserie

Aunt Marcia has nice buns!

Aunt Linda did such a great job at organizing everything!

After the meal, we had dessert. Can you believe we stuffed even more in there? There were pies, goodies and The FD's famous crepes! Delicious.

Here are a few more photos from the day...

On Sunday, we all went to church together and then headed back to M&L's for a second go at the food. We said our goodbyes, everyone headed home and we promptly crashed on the couch to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and have a nap!

Random Dozen

1. Which physical trait do you now accept--maybe not love, but accept--and no longer feel extremely self-conscious about? My eyebrows. They are kind of weird.

2. This week Meredith Baxter Birney, best known as the mom on the favorite 80s sitcom "Family Ties" came out of the closet, which led me to formulate this question: Who do you think is/was the best TV mom? Kate from LOST. I think that stealing a child and lying about his parentage definitely qualifies you as the best.

3. Do you speak any foreign languages? Are there any you'd like to learn? I used to be able to speak French somewhat well. Not so much anymore. I'd love to learn another language, I don't really care which one. Oh yea, I also do speak Canadian.

4. Who is your personal hero? My Mumma.

5. What is one holiday food that you find extremely difficult to resist over- indulging in? Stuffing, gravy, rolls, shortbread, chocolate coated almond toffee, andddddddddddddddd peanut butter balls. The better question is what holiday food do I find EASY to resist over-indulging in? The answer: cranberry sauce. Blech.

6. Tell me about a Christmas decoration that has special meaning or sentimental value. Been there, done that. Definitely not going to rehash that one. But I also have a decoration that has the year somewhere on it from each year of our marriage. 2006 is a stuffed snowman and a Christmas tree decoration, 2007 is a teddy bear, 2008 is reindeer and Santa candle holders. It has become a tradition for the FD to give me a decoration with the year imprinted somewhere on it each year.

7. How do you feel about snow? Love-hate relationship. Right now, as it's pouring down yucky, sleety, icky, yicky freezing rain, I wish there was snow. In a month or so, when I'm stuck inside my house, I will want the snow to go away. Snow means OT hours for hubby though, so sometimes I welcome it with open arms.

8. On average, how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Not that I'm jealous of any number over three or anything. Are you ready for this .... I sleep an average of 9-10 hours a night.

9. Tell me about your first crush. I was about 6 months old ... just kidding. Kind of. My first crush was a family friend, who is still one of our good friend's to this day. He was actually one of Evan's groomsmen in our wedding. My parents and his parents were best friends and I thought for sure that someday I'd marry him. I think I crushed on him from about age 3-12.

10. You're stuck in a room for 2 hours with only a chalkboard and chalk. What will you write/draw? Lists. Lists. Lists. And more lists. To-do lists. To-make lists. Lists of what lists I need to make. Lists of what things I'd rather be doing than being stuck in that room. Just lists, lists, lists.

11. Do you dress for the current temp or for the day's forecast? Day's forecast, I think.

12. Favorite Christmas movie is? How can I choose?! Home Alone 1 and 2, Miracle on 34th Street, ELF, and of course, the good old plasticine versions of Rudolph and Frosty.

An Apple a Day

On Sunday, my sister in law, Logi, our friend, Briar, and I all set to work on doing some preserving with the bushel and a half of apples that I had waiting for us in my cold room.

We set out to make applesauce and apple butter.

We chopped.

We peeled.

We stirred.

We boiled.

We spiced.

We mashed.

We food-milled.

We made a mess.

We canned.

We enjoyed.

And then we sat down on the couch, ate pizza and wings and vowed to never move again.

In all, we ended up with 28 pints of unsweetened (or, I should say, just very very slightly sweetened) applesauce and 18 half pints of apple butter, which is actually more reminiscent of deliciously spiced applesauce because it didn't really thicken up the way apple butter is supposed to.

Either way, it was a successful and enjoyable day. More than once during the day, I realized how blessed I am to have other women in my life who enjoy doing these kinds of things with me. I don't get to see Briar very often, but there were so many times this weekend that I was reminded how similar we are and how much of an encouragement she is to me. And, Logi, well, I see her all the time but she continuously rocks my world!